River redgum
From Envirowiki
The river redgum is a plant (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)and forest type in the Murray Riverina in NSW and Victoria. On the NSW side of the River, 84,000 ha of the River Red Gum forests on public lands are RAMSAR listed wetlands, including the Moira-Millewa-Gulpa Island group, the Werai forest and the Koondrook-Pericoota group.
The River Red Gum forests occur in the Riverina bioregion, one of the most poorly reserved in Australia, with less than 5% of the bioregion in formal reserves.
The red gum is a natural monoculture - redgums are the dominant tree that grows on large parts of the banks of the Murray River. Other small plants, and many animals live in the ecosystem, but most of the trees are redgums, with a few stands of pines in certain areas. The ecosystem exists largely in a flood zone - naturally, the river floods a few times a year, and the water takes a long time to drain. Further from the major rivers, the Red Gums mixed with Black Box (E. largiflorens).
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[edit] 1 Usage
The red gum tree is a slow growing, wide eucalypt. It's wood is (over)used as firewood, especially in Melbourne, it's also used for timber, especially for furniture.
The NSW government has been logging the parts of the redgums illegally (under the Australian Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act) since 2003.[1]
[edit] 2 Trivia
An Australian political folk band took the name Redgum in reference to the romanticism of the redgum in australian colonial culture.
[edit] 3 external links
- http://www.redgum.org.au - campaign for a redgum national park.
